We Are Manchester Arena

15 Jan 2015

Manchester’s biggest live entertainment venue celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and as part of the celebrations the venue has been renamed Manchester Arena.

Manchester Arena General Manager, James Allen, said: “We’ve been a big part of Manchester’s economic and cultural landscape for the last two decades and it’s now time to celebrate our position within the city. Although we are talking to potential new sponsors, we thought the start of our 20th year was the perfect opportunity to return to our traditional name and celebrate our Mancunian heritage.”

“Since 1995 we’ve sold over 20 million tickets, hosted the biggest names in live entertainment and won awards around the world. However, most importantly, we’ve made memories for millions of live music fans which we’ll be sharing throughout the year.”

Over the last 20 years Manchester Arena has staged the biggest names in live entertainment including The Rolling Stones, Madonna, U2, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and the record-breaking 2010/2011 residency by local comedian Peter Kay.

The venue has also hosted some of the biggest events in the UK sporting calendar including several 2002 Commonwealth Games events, the 2012 Olympic basketball warm-up match between team USA and GB, the 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships and international boxing bouts by Mike Tyson, David Haye, Joe Calzaghe and local champions Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan. The Arena also supported professional basketball (Manchester Giants) and ice hockey (Manchester Storm and Manchester Phoenix) in the city.

Throughout 2015, we'll be remembering our most spectacular events from the last 20 years and we invite people to share their memoies of visiting the Arena on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #WeAreManchester.